The present invention relates to a document management system having a function of recording operation history associated with documents in order to execute document utilization support for users, such as operation procedure guide associated with documents, and a document management method applied to this system.
This application is based on Japanese Patent Application No. 10-47908 filed on Feb. 27, 1998, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Jobs using electronic documents have been common in offices in these days due to widespread large-capacity memory devices, networks, and the like. The degrees of efficiently taking necessary information from a large number of documents and effectively handling documents greatly influence the efficiency of business operations.
A conventional file management method using a tree structure is insufficient in retrieval function for electronic documents. To complement this function, there have been developed a large number of document management application programs for improving jobs efficiency, such as a full-text retrieval tool using a keyword and a work flow system for improving jobs efficiency by defining a job document flow.
While satisfactory results have been obtained by these application programs, functions which cannot be covered by these application programs to perform jobs have been necessary. For example, no retrieval can be performed in the above-mentioned full-text retrieval tool when a user cannot think of a keyword for retrieving included in a target document. No work flow system can handle a document whose utilization method is not clearly defined.
For example, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Nos. 9-189927 and 9-189928, an application program has been introduced to support jobs using the user operation history associated with documents. By using the user operation history, the user can access a necessary document referred to by himself in the past without requiring a keyword if the user specifies the date at which the user referred to the document and its purpose. The user can also utilize the user operation history to derive the flow of this document.
A conventional document management system, however, concentrates its purpose on managing documents in the system. For this reason, another management system is required to manage documents such as printed paper documents outside the system. The user must manage both electronic documents and paper documents.
An example of using operation history for output document management is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application KOKAI Publication No. 9-30057. The name of user who has instructed printing is added to data of printing, and the history of printing is managed using a printer driver. The number of pages printed and output by this user is managed. This history of printing is, however, managed by the printer driver directly connected to a specific printer. Therefore, a system to which a plurality of printers are connected cannot manage outputs. The electronic documents in the system do not have information associated with paper documents. Therefore, even if a document is updated in the system, the user does not know whether the paper document must be updated.
It is the first object of the present invention to provide a document management system which can remarkably improve utility by positively using an operation history associated with electronic documents in the system to manage documents such as external paper documents output from the system.
It is the second object of the present invention to provide a document management method applied to the document management system.
The first object can be achieved by the following document management system. That is, a document management system records an operation history associated with an electronic document and determines whether an output history associated with the document exists in the recorded history when output of the document is instructed. When it is determined that the output history associated with the document exists, the document management system notifies a user of the fact that the document has already been output, who output the document in the past, and when the document was output.
The second object can be achieved by the following document management method applied to the document management system. That is, a document management method records an operation history of an electronic document and determines whether an output history associated with the document exists in the recorded operation history when output of the document is instructed. When it is determined that the output history associated with the document exists, the document management system notifies a user of the fact that the document has already been output, who output the document, and when the document was output.
According to the present invention, the following errors can be easily prevented. That is, a specific document is repeatedly output by a plurality of users, and a specific operation is repeatedly performed. The present invention also allows each user to recognize other users who have output a document in the past. For example, when the document has been updated, the user can notify other users of this or specify an adviser from them. In addition, easygoing document output can be suppressed.
The present invention accepts an input of the storage place of a portable recording medium serving as an output destination of an electronic document together with an output instruction when the document is output. A storage place is determined for each portable recording media to which electronic documents are to be output. The storage place of the portable recording medium serving as an output destination of the document is managed in correspondence with the output document when the document is output. For example, when a document output instruction is made, the user is notified of the corresponding storage place.
According to the present invention, the electronic documents in the system and the documents on the portable recording medium outside the system can be unifiedly managed.
According to the present invention, when a document has been updated, it is determined whether the output history associated with the document exists in the operation history recorded in advance. If it is determined that the output history associated with the document exists, other users who have output the document in the past are notified of the fact that the document has been updated.
According to the present invention, the users who have output the document in the past can instantaneously be informed of the fact that the document has been updated.
According to the present invention, when a document has been updated, the name of user who input the document is determined from the operation history recorded in advance. The determined user is notified of the fact that the document has been updated.
According to the present invention, the user who input the document can instantaneously be informed of the fact that the document has been updated.
As described above, according to the present invention, the output history of documents output outside the system can be provided to users. Necessity of document replacement due to updating associated with the output document can be notified. Management of storage place of the output documents can be unified with the system, and utility of the system can be remarkably improved.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out hereinafter.